Madison Hires Mines

HARRISONBURG – James Madison football has filled its vacant assistant coaching position.

Second-year coach Mike Houston said he has hired Fontel Mines, who spent the last five seasons at Richmond before following ex-Spiders coach Danny Rocco to Delaware in the winter.

Mines will coach inside receivers and tight ends at Madison.

“We had a very deep pool of candidates and then settled on about half a dozen that I felt were top-end guys,” Houston told the Daily News-Record. “I just felt like Fontel, in getting to meet him and getting to know him, just what an impressive young man he is.”

“The opportunity to work for one of the top programs in FCS football and in my home state of Virginia was a major attraction for me,” Mines said in a press release. “Coach Houston has demonstrated to be a proven winner at many levels and I look forward to the opportunity to improve myself as a coach. We have a great group of receivers and tight ends and I’m ready to get to work.”

A spot opened on Houston’s staff when offensive line coach Jamal Powell left the program for the same job at Lamar University last month. After Powell’s departure, Houston assigned run-game coordinator and tight ends coach Bryan Stinespring to coach the offensive line.

Drew Dudzik, who oversaw all the receivers in 2016, will now coach outside receivers.

Mines, 32, had coached wide receivers at Richmond. He was hired again by Rocco to do the same and additionally serve as recruiting coordinator at Delaware.

A native of Richmond, Mines is a product of Hermitage High School, where he played before going on to a collegiate career at the University of Virginia. He was a wide receiver for the Cavaliers, recording 68 catches for 737 yards and five touchdowns, which led to a four-year NFL career as a tight end with the Chicago Bears.

“Several of my coaches know him very well,” Houston said. “After the interviews, it was hands-down across the board that this was the guy. I felt like he was, but certainly so did everyone else so there’s no question we had the right guy.

“He’s established in the state of Virginia. He’s a great recruiter and he’s really a solid-character guy. He’s someone not only that I think will be a great role model for our players, but a very relatable coach for them.”

Houston said Mines would help JMU get into some new recruiting territories. Houston said Mines’ recruiting responsibility would be the state of Georgia and the greater Jacksonville, Fla., area.

“I think he’ll be a huge asset for our kids, the program and recruiting,” Houston added. “I’m really excited to have Fontel joining our program.”

James Madison holds its spring game Saturday at 1 p.m. in Harrisonburg.